Toy vehicle playsets have proven to ben an extremely enduring and popular category of toys for a great many years. Not surprisingly, this long lasting and extensive popularity has given rise to a virtually endless variety of toy vehicle playsets. Thus, such playsets have been provided which use simple track structures and equally simple hand-rolled toy vehicles as well as more complex track structures utilizing toy vehicles which are powered or launched through the track playset. For example, a variety of toy vehicle playsets utilize a track having an elevated launching portion employing gravity and its effect upon the toy vehicle to provide a launching energy to traverse the track set. Other toy vehicle playsets have used spring-loaded or spring-powered launchers to provide the initial energy required to drive the toy vehicle through the track set. Still other toy vehicle playsets have utilized vehicles which themselves are powered using devices such as inertial drive motors, spring-driven wind-up motors, or electrical motors having battery or other electrical power sources. The variation has included a substantial divergence of the track structures themselves. The simpler track structures utilize a simple oval racetrack while others employ more complex apparatus such as inverting loop segments or jump and landing ramp segments which hurtle the toy vehicles through the air across an intervening gap.
Just as the track playsets have been subject to variation, the toy vehicles themselves have been similarly varied and diverse. Such toy vehicles are often realistic, bright colored and finely detailed. Others are less detailed, more fanciful and cartoon-like in character. Still other toy vehicles used in such playsets are configurable in alternative element arrangements to vary their appearance. One of the more interesting toy vehicle variations produced through the years employs so-called thermochromic material which forms paint or coating upon the toy vehicles and which provides a change in color in response to temperature changes. Such toy vehicles often referred to "color-change" toy vehicles have provided an interesting and amusing variation for toy designers to utilize in their endless task of providing amusing and entertaining as well as novel toy playsets.
Thus, practitioners continue to respond to the popularity of such toy vehicle playsets to improve the amusement, entertainment and novelty thereof.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,716 issued to Hippely, et al. sets forth a TOY APPARATUS INCLUDING ROBOTIC ARM in which a robotic arm for handling toy vehicles advanced along a path past a plurality of stations including a pickup station, an immersion station and an exit station is provided. The robotic arm module has gripper members actuatable for picking up the toy vehicle at the pickup station then dipping the toy vehicle into a liquid and thereafter depositing the toy vehicle at an exit station.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,403 issued to Flatau sets forth a COUNTERBALANCE ROBOT ARM having a main arm formed of two parallel sections, the ends of which are pivotally connected to the forearm and drive arm to maintain a parallel relationship therebetween. A medial portion of one main arm section is pivotally mounted on a turnable pedestal. A drive motor and drive system mounted on the drive arm are connected to the other main section for moving the drive arm relative to the main arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,363 issued to Udagawa sets forth a TRACK TOY having a spiral track member mounted with respect to a larger toy robot. Gears mounted on the larger toy robot are driven by a battery powered motor within the robot. Several smaller robots placed in the lower end of the track are periodically conveyed to the upper end of the track using the gears.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,061 issued to Sano sets forth a TOY CRANE having a base supporting an upwardly extending tower and a boom mounted on the top portion of the tower in a rotatable attachment. A carriage mounted on the boom is movable to raise and lower a grappling member.
U.S. Pat. Des. 204,770 issued to Pfister sets forth a TOY CRANE having a generally cylindrical base member supporting a horizontally extending telescopic boom having a cable extending downwardly therefrom supporting a crane hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,624 issued to Ogawa sets forth a CONTROL TOWER AND TRACK TOY ASSEMBLY having individual track segments coupled to a three-part control tower. The control tower base incorporates a power transmission assembly capable of deriving power from a vehicle when it is restrained on the base member. An endless conveyor belt may be driven by the power transmission assembly in either a vertical or horizontal mode of operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,576 issued to Matsumoto, et al. sets forth a SPIN TOWER STATION FOR USE WITH TOY VEHICLE AND TRACKWAY having a track network connecting a plurality of stations each having its own amusement function. The spin tower receives a vehicle at a station entry port and simultaneously moves it translationally and rotationally to a station exit port positioned below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,149 issued to Iwao sets forth a TRANSFER MECHANISM UTILIZING A PIVOTABLE HOLDING MEMBER having a toy trackway supporting a plurality of track segments and having a movable crane member replicating a giraffe which receives and moves various toy elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,955 issued to Chuan sets forth a TOY HAVING SLIDING RAIL having a tower member supporting a curved sliding rail. A center tower is coupled to a gear train and drive shaft within the tower base and includes a rotatable boom supporting a toy helicopter which rotates about the tower under the gear drive train movement.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have provided improvement in the art and in some instances enjoyed commerical success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for evermore improved interesting and amusing toy vehicle playset accessories and products.